The Pocklington Parish Magazine
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THE POCKLINGTON PARISH MAGAZINE WELCOME TO All SAINTS CHURCH, POCKLINGTON August 2019 £1 THE POCKLINGTON GROUP OF PARISHES The Combined Benefices of Pocklington Wold and Londesborough Wold Ministry Team Clergy Vicar-vacancy - with welcome assistance from the following retired clergy who have the Archbishop’s Permission to Officiate (PTO) Revd Shelagh Jones 01430 871612 Revd Les Slow 303888 Revd Tony Burdon 304290 Revd Pam Burdon 304290 Revd Canon Rodney Nicholson 01430 650271 Deacon Revd Bronnie Broadhurst 307479 Readers Mr Mike Bailey 01430 873318 Mr David Rumbelow 306056 Mr Brian Snelson 302206 Mrs Pam Dean 303278 Mrs Barbara Myerscough (in training) 303331 Mrs Annie Harrison (in training) 01377 288070 Recognised Parish Assistants W = Worship P= Pastoral Dr Brian James 01377 288148 W Mrs Joy Hadley 306655 W/P Mrs Freda Bailey 01430 873318 W/P Mrs Lyn Stanton 302073 P Pastoral Team: Coordinator: Revd Bronnie Broadhurst tel 307479 Mrs Lyn Stanton, Mr David Rumbelow, Mrs Joy Hadley, Revd Canon Rodney Nicholson Revd Shelagh Jones, Mrs Pam Dean Parish Visitors: Pat Herbert, Sheila Waller, Annie Harrison, Louis Taylor, Frankie Taylor, Peter Brooke Group Safeguarding Representative: Revd Les Slow 303888 South Wold Deanery Synod Representatives: Revd Bronnie Broadhurst, Heather Young 2 Members of the Pocklington Parochial Church Council: Hilary Slow, Nigel Laws, David Brown, Ian Ryder, Louis Taylor, Kath Gilbank, Lyn Stanton, Carol Taylor, Karen Hoop, Polly Warcup, Heather Young, Jill Kemmenoe Pocklington Group of Churches Pastoral Team The Pastoral Team is available to visit the bereaved, those who are ill, the housebound, or anyone who would like someone to talk to .This is an important part of the Church’s ministry and mission but we can only visit those we know about. So if you, or anyone you know, would welcome a visit from a member of the church family, please contact us and we will arrange for a member of the Pastoral Team to visit. Church Wardens: St Giles, Burnby Mr C Soukup 306154 Mr J Hewitt 302622 St Ethelburga, Gt Givendale Mr J Goodhart 368817 Mrs M Stephens 01262 678153 St Martin, Hayton Mrs E Thackray 304317 St Mary, Huggate Mrs R Braithwaite 01377 288422 Mrs S Dale 01377 288233 All Saints, Londesborough Mrs J Fletcher 01430 873554 St Margaret, Millington Mrs S Sheard 304783 St James, Nunburnholme Dr A Henworth 302156 All Saints, Pocklington Mr N Laws 304307 Mrs H Slow 303888 All Saints, Shiptonthorpe Mrs F Bailey 01430 873318 3 A new place for worship and remembering a friend by Rodney Nicholson So we move our Sunday worship to Pocklington School from August 11th to mid-October. I guess there are some parishes where such a change might tempt a few parishioners to take a few weeks’ holiday from church. Those faint-hearts might offer the excuse that there’s nowhere like the proper church, so that meeting elsewhere just isn’t the same. This will not be true of All Saints’ people because members of our congregation worship God, not a building, and believe in the truth of William Cowper’s words: “Jesus, where’er thy people meet, there they behold thy mercy seat; where’er they seek thee, thou art found, and every place is hallowed ground.” In other words, our Sunday services are equally hallowed, whether they are in church or the school chapel. Like much of life, it’s a balance. We rightly value highly our historic building, house of prayer as it is and the focus of much activity. The village churches feel the same about their places of worship, and it has been a delight to move our Thursday evening prayers to different venues: Londesborough, for example, this month and Burnby in September. But, like Solomon in the Old Testament, we know that God does not really live in earthly temples, even though they may help us to draw nearer to him. So, for a few weeks, we enjoy the same service in a fresh setting. In fact, this could be a time of significant spiritual growth for All Saints. Just as a parish can gain immensely from a church week or weekend away, so we can benefit greatly from our period in the school chapel. Worship is coloured by the geography of the building, the atmosphere created and the particular people around us. Some things may be a little strange, but that hardly matters as it’s only for a few weeks. Far better is to see this time as a God-given opportunity which may never be repeated in our lifetime. As Christians we are a “tent people” because we are always moving on in the journey to which God calls us. There’s a danger in being too comfortable. Here we have “no enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” – Hebrews 13:14. I am writing this the day after hearing of the death of our dear friend, the Revd Ken Townley. The news is so sad, especially of course for Dot and the family. We know that Ken is now beyond all pain and indeed more alive than ever, but we are only human and our human emotion is one of loss. We feel disappointed too that after all the promise of his ordination in the Minster in January, Ken so soon became unable to fulfil his long-awaited ordained ministry and to put into practice ideas which he had formed for St Catherine’s, Barmby Moor. So we are honest about heart-break and the reality of suffering. At the same time we hold to that unquenchable hope which is ours through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Whatever else it means, the Holy Communion deepens our hope, renews us in faith and grounds us in that overwhelming love of God from which nothing can ever separate us. Yours in Christ, Rodney Nicholson Prayer during the Vacancy: We continue to meet weekly to pray for every aspect of our church life at this time and for the appointment process for our new vicar. We meet on Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm. August at Londesborough and in September at Burnby. You are all warmly invited to join us Pam and Tony Burdon Bridlington – and seaside thoughts by Rodney Nicholson I enjoyed a wonderful Saturday afternoon in Bridlington three weeks ago, when Michelle Stephens, a churchwarden at Givendale, gave another of her tours of Bridlington old town followed by a splendid afternoon tea in her home – and all for £8 for Givendale church. We learnt that Bridlington old town and the seaside community a mile away remained separate areas until a hundred years ago. There were only three of us this time: church member Joan Young, one of her friends and myself. Normally the group is bigger. We started at Bridlington Priory, the massive cathedral-like church which, before the Dissolution of the Monasteries, was even grander than now. The visit whetted our appetite to go inside, which is not possible on Saturday afternoon. Michelle, however, pointed out all sorts of details, including two small sculptures of Charles and Camilla, commemorating their visit in 2013 to mark the 900th anniversary of the priory’s foundation. We paused at the old gate house, now housing the Bayle museum, before walking up and down High Street, where Michelle and her husband Frederick live. This period piece is really a walk back in time, on a par with a historic street in York, with bow windows and the rest. Michelle drew our attention to the buildings, from medieval to Georgian, showing how the line of the properties had changed over the years. Interestingly, rich and poor people have always lived close to one another in Bridlington’s High Street. A sewing machine repairer was just one of the unique businesses there. And so, after an information-packed two hours, it was tea at Michelle and Frederick’s listed home, meeting their gentle rescued Greyhound, Clare, and admiring their secret garden situated, as with other dwellings, at the back of the house. Many of us remember childhood visits to the seaside. I was fortunate, living only four miles from Morecambe, once popular with Bradfordians but subsequently a rather run- down place which has now been tastefully regenerated. Heysham was a few miles further away – renowned for its nettle beer, a rocky coast, the ancient St Patrick’s church and Heysham Head park, where a poor bear spent its lonely days in a three-level cage. Blackpool/St Annes-on-Sea lay to the south and Grange-over-Sands to the north. Bridlington is a reminder that there’s more to a resort than its sea front. Like anywhere, people’s lives are played out with their hopes and disappointments. Education, culture, art and music all have their place. Voluntary work goes on. Many churches exercise a profound ministry, welcoming visitors, serving their congregation and parish, and involving themselves, in Christ’s name, in much-needed mission and community work. Mothers’ Union members in Bridlington have taught English to asylum seekers and in Scarborough excellent work goes on at the West End centre. For a long time, across the country, seaside resorts have become notorious for their deprivation, sometimes linked to low wages, and drug taking. Young people in Scarborough, for example, say that most jobs are in care homes or shops, and one survey suggests that the town’s population of under-30s could drop by 9,000 in the next twenty years. A few enterprising youngsters, on the other hand, see a future in opening their own catering business. On a very different note, Neill Stannard, an ordinand at Ridley Hall, my old theological college, writes in their current “News” about his volunteering with the Beachy 5 Head chaplaincy team.